New Champion
by Kalira69
Summary: What is there to be done to make Kuro into the perfect Champion for the arena? (Written for Kuro Week 2017, Day 5: Nightmares.)


Written for Kuro Week, Day 5 - Nightmares.

There's some nasty torture/violence in here with implications of worse. It's brief, but present.

* * *

Kuro struggled against the straps holding him, but there was no give to any of his bonds, and while a handful of figures moved around him and the table he was bound to, none of them cared at all for his struggles.

One of the lower technicians passed by Kuro with a wide, toothy smile that made his blood run cold. Kuro screamed into the muzzle strapped over his face, and one of the druids tapped his shoulder. He wasn't sure if it was supposed to be some . . . some parody of a soothing gesture or a signal to be quiet or if it was supposed to have done something to him, but he thrashed weakly and snarled at the touch.

"Now, now, pet. There's no need to be like that. We all know why you're here." Haggar cackled and headed back towards the table where Kuro was bound, gesturing over her shoulder. A technician snapped to at the gesture and followed her with a shimmering tray in his hands. Kuro couldn't see much of what was on it, but he didn't much want to, either. He swallowed nervously, feeling sick.

"There's no use pretending you're anything but a plaything, an amusement, for us, now is there?" Haggar asked, toying with something on the tray just out of his sight and making a thoughtful noise. Her eyes flicked up to Kuro's again and she smiled, bright and sharp and harsh. "It will be easier if you just learn to accept it."

Kuro howled and flexed his hands, the metal claws scraping against his metal palm and then the solid surface of the table. He would not be that - would not accept the role she forced him into, had created him for.

"You might even take to enjoying your place, if I just make a few tweaks somewhere in there, don't you think?" Haggar asked with a sick grin, picking up a broad-handled tool Kuro recognised instantly - it was a surgical laser, one of the larger, more intense ones used for cutting through not just flesh but bone as well. "I can do that, you know. I can do anything to you if I want to try it - you might break beyond usefulness, but I can always make a new one, can't I?"

Kuro screamed, eyes wide, and Haggar's smile only grew.

She powered the laser on, eyeing the 'blade' it formed, then switched it off again and trailed a fingertip over Kuro's _face_. He thrashed and wished he could _bite_ her, but his fangs were sunk into the bit shoved between his teeth and held there by the muzzle's straps, and he couldn't open his jaw.

Haggar tapped her finger lightly at the bridge of his nose, right where the thick scar marred his face, and Kuro whimpered, remembering the pain of receiving it. Her experiments, her attempt to flood him with quintessence.

They were Shiro's memories, a little more distant from Kuro's own mind - as were all of the memories that had been with him when he was born - but Kuro remembered more than clearly enough to know he did _not_ want to experience it ever again. Or firsthand.

Haggar grinned at him, fierce and terrible.

"Yes. . . Yes indeed, I think I will begin on that today." Haggar told him, and snapped her fingers at one of her druids. The table was angled down again, now almost flat, and glowing hands lowered past Kuro's head to rest on his shoulders. "I grow tired of this nonsense; your struggles when all I seek to do is . . . _improve_ you. A more _tractable_ Champion would be a blessing for my latest experiments. First, of course, we'll have to get this open."

Kuro's eyes widened as she turned on the laser and brought it up, passing his nose and his eyes, close enough he could almost feel the humming of its internal power.

"I can hardly reprogram it without getting at the insides, after all." Haggar said, laughing, and splayed one hand over his face, nails digging into one cheek.

Kuro whimpered a protest he knew would be no use even if it could be heard, and cringed, straining to look at the laser. Then the pain started, digging into him at the hairline and slowly working its way down his face, pushing deeper into him.

Thick, hot liquid ran down Kuro's brow as he screamed, blood blotting out his vision as he started hearing the dull thrum of bone giving under the laser.

* * *

Kuro jerked awake, panting and crying and soaked with sweat, his whole body shuddering. The nightmare- That had been. . .

A soft, cool touch trailed over his brow, and Kuro shivered, opening his eyes.

"There, awake." Haggar said, her expression twisting into a satisfied smile. "Are you ready to become the new Champion?" She raised the broad-handled surgical laser in her free hand, pushing down at Kuro's shoulder until her nails dug into his flesh.

Kuro screamed, on and on, thrashing and howling, but Haggar only laughed as she channelled magic into her hands and bound him, unable to move, stretched under her blade and helpless to resist her.

* * *

My friend M actually supplied the idea for this prompt of Kuro having a horrifying nightmare and then waking only to find himself still in Haggar's clutches.


End file.
